Blood marketplace system and method

ABSTRACT

A computerized system and method to provide a marketplace for real-time matching of a blood order to a blood supplier based on a variety of variables tracked by the system including real-time marketplace trend statistical analysis.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/057,949 filed Sep. 30, 2014, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventive concept relates generally to a computer-basedmarketplace for blood, and more particularly, to a system and method torecord and track various variables for blood, assess demand for blood,provide fulfillment for blood orders, and ensure even distribution ofsupply across the system.

BACKGROUND

Blood is a bodily fluid that delivers a variety of necessary substancesto cells in a body including oxygen and transports metabolic waste awayfrom the cells of the body. A blood transfusion is, in many cases, alife-saving procedure used to address trauma cases and various medicalconditions, for example, to replace lost components of the blood.

Obtaining blood to perform a blood transfusion present a variety ofcomplex issues. For instance, it is necessary to ensure proper bloodtype. There are thirty-three recognized human blood groups with two,i.e., ABO and the RhD antigen, determining blood type, i.e., A, B, AB,and O, with a positive “+” or − indicating RhD status. O− blood isgenerally compatible for use in combination with any other blood type.As a result, O− blood is often overused and in short supply.

It is also necessary to ensuring proper blood ratio. Although earlytransfusions used whole blood, i.e., blood having all of its components,modern transfusions commonly use only components of blood in variouspredetermined ratios. The components of blood include red blood cells,white blood cells, platelets, plasma, and cryoprecipitate. In a massivetrauma resuscitation scenario requiring more than ten units of blood,higher ratios of fresh frozen plasma and platelets relative to packedred blood cells are delivered to a patient. Use of a lesser amount ofred blood cells is associated with a lower risk of infection.

It is also necessary to ensure proper handling of blood to minimize riskof infection and timely receive blood, for example, during unscheduledmassive trauma resuscitation scenarios or during scheduled surgicalprocedures to address a medical condition. Such handling must be carriedout promptly for ideal transfusion efficacy. Platelets may only bestored for five days, and packed red blood cells are typically storedfor only forty-two days in a refrigerated state versus a frozen stateusing a first-in first-out inventory management system.

Thus, when there is a demand for blood, whether scheduled orunscheduled, it is desirable that an administrator be able to quicklyidentify one or more blood units to meet the demand in view of idealblood ratio, ideal blood type, and ideal number of units, and expediteordering and delivery of such to a location, e.g., a hospital of apatient, thereby minimizing risk of infection and maximizing efficacy.Conventional blood management systems are deficient in this regard. Noconventional blood management system provides real-time matching ofblood units or is able to categorize blood units based on components ofblood, ratio, and type. Further, no conventional blood management systemprovides an automated combining of different blood units from differentlocations to meet an order placed by a user for a single use or patient.Still further, no conventional blood management system tracks geographicrestraints, tracks and prices units of blood in view of demand, ortracks price tolerances, e.g., of an ordering entity or of a supplier.Rather, such conventional systems are limited to basic online order andfulfillment. For instance, U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/973,511and 14/211,417, which are incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties, are generally limited to order entry and fulfillment.

Thus, there exists a need for system and method that does not sufferfrom the aforementioned deficiencies, satisfies the aforementionedneeds, and is efficient, economical, and easy to implement and utilize.

SUMMARY

In response to the aforementioned needs, the present applicationdescribes a computerized system and method that provides a user with anonline portal for real-time matching of a blood order to a bloodsupplier based on a variety of variables tracked by the system includingreal-time marketplace trend statistical analysis.

In accordance with an aspect of the present inventive concept, a systemis provided that provides real-time matching of blood units and isconfigured to categorize blood units based on components of blood,ratio, and type, to automate combining of different blood units fromdifferent locations to meet an order placed by a user for a single useor patient, to track geographic restraints, to track and price units ofblood in view of demand, and to track price tolerances, e.g., of anordering entity or of a supplier.

In accordance with an aspect of the present inventive concept, a systemis provided that is configured to enable a user, e.g., a hospitaladministrator, a lab professional, or a buyer of blood, to populate andfully articulate an order for blood, e.g., based on one or morecomponents, and match the order to one or more suppliers of blood.

In accordance with an aspect of the present inventive concept, a systemis provided that is configured to enable a user, e.g., a hospitaladministrator, a lab professional, or a supplier of blood, to populateand fully articulate a supply of blood, e.g., based on one or morecomponents, and warehouse the supply of blood, e.g., collect, store,and/or maintenance data associated with the supply of blood, to enablesearching, identification, and/or matching of the supply of blood to anorder for blood.

In accordance with an aspect of the present inventive concept, a systemis provided that is configured to enable a user, e.g., a supplier ofblood and/or a buyer of blood, to track an order of blood from order,transport, and delivery, e.g., time, date, geographic location, one ormore factors associated with the blood, e.g., a storage temperature ofthe blood, at every step therebetween.

In accordance with an aspect of the present inventive concept, a systemis provided that is configured to provide a user with price data in realtime associated with blood based on one or more factors associated withthe blood, e.g., demand and supply.

The aforementioned may be achieved in one aspect of the presentinventive concept by providing a computerized marketplace system forblood. The system may include a memory configured to store data relatedto units of blood, a supplier portal configured to allow a first user toinput one or more variables related to a supply of blood, an orderportal configured to allow a second user to input an order with one ormore variables related to a demand for blood, and/or a processorconfigured to (i) deduce variables related to the units of blood basedon at least the one or more variables related to the supply of blood,(ii) process the order based on logic and by matching one or more of thevariables related to the units of blood and one or more of theadditional variables related to the units of blood to one or more of thevariables related to the demand for blood, and/or (iii) display a matchto the second user with corresponding information related to the matchvia the order portal.

The system may be configured to deduce additional variables related tothe units of blood based on (i) the one or more of the variables relatedto one of the units of blood, and/or (ii) market data obtained from adatabase. The database may be configured to (i) receive the market datafrom market participants, and (ii) calculate one or more trends based onthe market data. The variables may be related to the demand for bloodinput by the second user include one or more of (i) a price tolerance ofan ordering entity, (ii) a geographic location of the ordering entity,(iii) other orders requested by the ordering entity, and/or (iv) adeadline of the ordering entity. The variables may be related to thedemand for blood input by the second user include one or more of (i) aprice tolerance of an ordering entity, (ii) a geographic location of theordering entity, (iii) other orders requested by the ordering entity,and/or (iv) a deadline of the ordering entity.

The aforementioned may be achieved in another aspect of the presentinventive concept by providing a computerized method to buy blood. Themethod may include the steps of accessing a portal in communication,and/or submitting an order for one or more of the units via the portal.The system may have (i) a memory configured to store one or morevariables related to units of blood, and (ii) a processor configured todeduce additional variables related to the units of blood based on theone or more variables related to one of the units of blood. Theprocessor may be configured to (i) process the order by matching one ormore of the variables related to the units of blood and one or more ofthe additional variables related to the units of blood to one or more ofthe variables related to the demand for blood, and (ii) cause a match tobe displayed to the second user with corresponding information relatedto the match via the portal.

The method may further include the step of allowing a first user toinput one or more of the variables related to one of the units of bloodvia a second portal. The method may further include the step of allowinga second user to input an order with variables related to a demand forblood via an order portal.

The aforementioned may be achieved in another aspect of the presentinventive concept by providing a method of administering blood to apatient via a computerized system. The method may comprise the steps ofextracting blood from a blood donor at a blood-donation entity,processing one or more components of the blood at the blood-donationentity, packaging the one or more components of the blood at theblood-donation entity, and/or accessing a computerized system andinputting information associated with the one or more components of theblood to a database associated with the computerized system. Theinformation may include one or more of (i) a number of units of the oneor more components of the blood, (ii) a price per unit of the one ormore components of the blood, and (iii) a geographic location of the oneor more components of the blood.

The method may further include the step of receiving an order for theone or more components of the blood with shipping information via thecomputerized system, the shipping information including a geographiclocation associated with the patient, and/or shipping the one or morecomponents of the blood to the geographic location associated with thepatient for administering to the patient. The system may be configuredto match the order with one of a plurality of suppliers of blood basedon a plurality of factors. The method may further include the step ofsetting the price per unit of the one or more components of the bloodbased on trend information provided by the computerized system. Thetrend information may include historic price information associated withthe one or more components of the blood from one or more prior ordersfilled using the computerized system.

Additional aspects, advantages, and utilities of the present inventiveconcept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and,in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned bypractice of the present inventive concept.

The foregoing is intended to be illustrative and is not meant in alimiting sense. Many features and subcombinations of the presentinventive concept may be made and will be readily evident upon a studyof the following specification and accompanying drawings comprising apart thereof. These features and subcombinations may be employed withoutreference to other features and subcombinations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present inventive concept are illustrated by way ofexample in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements andin which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system with communication pathwaysaccording to an embodiment of the present inventive concept;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example display provided to a user via a displayof a computing device of the user according to an embodiment of thepresent inventive concept;

FIG. 3 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 4 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 5 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 6 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 7 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 8 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 9 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 10 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 11 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 12 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 13 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept;

FIG. 14 illustrates another example display provided to a user via adisplay of a computing device of the user according to an embodiment ofthe present inventive concept; and

FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of an example use of the system andmethod according to an embodiment of the present inventive concept.

The drawing figures do not limit the present inventive concept to thespecific embodiments disclosed and described herein. The drawings arenot necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed on clearlyillustrating principles of certain embodiments of the present inventiveconcept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description references the accompanying drawingsthat illustrate various embodiments of the present inventive concept.The illustrations and description are intended to describe aspects andembodiments of the present inventive concept in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the present inventiveconcept. Other components can be utilized and changes can be madewithout departing from the scope of the present inventive concept. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense. The scope of the present inventive concept is definedonly by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents towhich such claims are entitled.

I. Terminology

In the following detailed description, terminology is used to describefeatures of the present inventive concept. For example, references toterms “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or “embodiments” mean that thefeature or features being referred to are included in at least oneaspect of the present disclosure. Separate references to terms “oneembodiment,” “an embodiment,” or “embodiments” in this description donot necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutuallyexclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent tothose skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature,structure, process, step, action, or the like described in oneembodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is notnecessarily included. Thus, the present inventive concept may include avariety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments describedherein. Additionally, all aspects of the present disclosure as describedherein are not essential for its practice.

Further, in certain situations, the term “logic” refers to hardware,firmware, software, and/or a combination thereof that is configured toperform one or more functions including, but not limited to, thosefunctions of the present inventive concept specifically described hereinor are readily apparent to those skilled in the art in view of thedescription. Such logic may include circuitry having data processingand/or storage functionality. Examples of such circuitry may include,but are not limited to, a microprocessor, one or more processors, e.g.,processor cores, a programmable gate array, a microcontroller, anapplication specific integrated circuit, a wireless receiver,transmitter and/or transceiver circuitry, semiconductor memory, orcombinatorial logic.

Logic may be in the form of one or more software modules, such asexecutable code in the form of an executable application, an applicationprogramming interface (API), a subroutine, a function, a procedure, anapplet, a servlet, a routine, source code, object code, a sharedlibrary/dynamic load library, or one or more instructions. Thesesoftware modules may be stored in any type of a suitable non-transitorystorage medium, or transitory storage medium, e.g., electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals such as carrier waves,infrared signals, or digital signals. Examples of non-transitory storagemedium may include, but are not limited or restricted to a programmablecircuit; a semiconductor memory; non-persistent storage such as volatilememory (e.g., any type of random access memory “RAM”); persistentstorage such as non-volatile memory (e.g., read-only memory “ROM”,power-backed RAM, flash memory, phase-change memory, etc.), asolid-state drive, hard disk drive, an optical disc drive, or a portablememory device. As firmware, the executable code is stored in persistentstorage.

The term “content” generally refers to information transmitted as one ormore messages, where each message(s) may be in the form of a packet, aframe, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode “ATM” cell, or any other series ofbits having a prescribed format. The content may be received as a dataflow, namely a group of related messages, within ingress data traffic.Content may include one or more types of data such as, but not limitedto, text, software, images, audio, metadata and/or other digital data.One example of content may include web content, or any data traffic thatmay be transmitted using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HypertextMarkup Language (HTML) protocol, or may be transmitted in a mannersuitable for display on a Web browser software application. Anotherexample of content includes electronic mail or email, which may betransmitted using an email protocol such as Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol version 3 (POPS), or InternetMessage Access Protocol (IMAP4). A further example of content includesan Instant Message, which may be transmitted using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) or Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) forexample. Yet another example of content includes one or more files thatare transferred using a data transfer protocol such as File TransferProtocol (FTP) for subsequent storage on a file share.

The term “computerized” generally represents that any correspondingoperations are conducted by hardware in combination with software and/orfirmware.

Lastly, the terms “or” and “and/or” as used herein are to be interpretedas inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B orC” or “A, B and/or C” mean “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; Aand C; B and C; A, B and C.” An exception to this definition will occuronly when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are insome way inherently mutually exclusive.

As the present inventive concept is susceptible to embodiments of manydifferent forms, it is intended that the present disclosure beconsidered as an example of the principles of the present inventiveconcept and not intended to limit the present inventive concept to thespecific embodiments shown and described.

II. General Architecture

Turning to FIG. 1, the present general inventive concept provides acomputerized system 10 to order or buy blood and to supply blood, and amethod of using the system 10 by various users, e.g., a buyer of bloodand a supplier of blood. It is foreseen that the system 10 may be usedto manage, procure, and/or supply other commodities such as tissueand/or bone without deviating from the scope of the present inventiveconcept. The system 10 generally includes a processor 12, a memory 14containing logic for the processor 12, and one or more servers 16, whichare in communication with each other. The server 14 provides an onlineportal that is accessible via a computing device 20 of a user that isconnected to a communication network 22 via a wired or wirelessconnection. The network 22 can be the Internet, an intranet, or anotherwired and/or wireless communication network. The system 10 is secure,thereby only permitting access thereto after the user has enteredcredential information via the portal and the system 10 confirms via theprocessor 12 that the user is authorized to access the system 10 usingthe credential information.

It is foreseen that depending on a user type, the system 10 may beconfigured to cause to be displayed one of a plurality of screens via adisplay of the computing device 20 after the user has been authorized toaccess the system 10. In the preferred embodiment, however, after theuser has been authorized to access the system 10, a display is providedto the user, such as that illustrated by FIG. 2, that allows the user toselect whether the user would like to either procure one or more unitsof blood or supply one or more units of blood, i.e., order or supplyblood. It is foreseen that the user may input the selection via thedisplay of the computing device, e.g., a touch-screen display, akeyboard, a mouse, a voice command, and/or other input receiverassociated with the computing device 20.

Simultaneous with the aforementioned display, the system 10 isconfigured to display shipping information to the user associated withany pending and/or past orders for blood, whether ordered by the user orsupplied by the user. It is foreseen that such shipping information mayinclude, but is not limited to, order tracking, i.e., a present, past,and/or future geographic location of blood with associated time and/ordate information, and/or one or more factors associated with the blood,e.g., a storage temperature of the blood, at every step during transportof the blood. Other shipping information may include a date and timedelivered and/or ordered a name of a buyer and/or supplier, adescription of the blood, a tracking number, and a status, e.g.,ordered, sent, in transit, delivered, and/or received. The status forthe shipping information may allow the user to indicate whether ashipment was received and a condition of the shipment upon receipt. Forinstance, the user may “flag” the shipment and include commentsregarding the shipment for review by one or more other users of thesystem, e.g., a sender of the shipment, an administrator of the systemor entity of the sender, and/or another potential purchaser of goodsshipped via the shipment. For instance, the user may indicate acontainer of the shipment was damaged, the shipment was not kept at aproper temperature to adequately preserve the shipment, and/or the like.

Turning to FIG. 3, the system 10 is configured to display one or morepricing profiles to the user based on one or more units of blood thatare available to be ordered and/or past orders of blood that occurredwithin a predetermined period of time, e.g., one to a plurality of days,months, and/or years. The system 10 is configured to allow the user toinput information associated with one or more units of blood availableto be supplied via the system 10. The system 10 is configured to allowthe user to edit existing information associated with one or more unitsof blood.

Each pricing profile includes geographic information for a correspondingunit of blood. In this manner, the user, whether buying or supplyingblood, can target blood based on proximity of the blood to the user,e.g., a local level, a state level, a national level, and/or a globallevel, and obtain a value of blood based on geography, supply, anddemand. For purposes herein, local means within five miles of the user,state means within the state of the user, national means within thenation of the user, and global means anywhere. Each pricing profilefurther includes blood product information, e.g., component informationassociated with the blood. For instance, each pricing profile indicateswhether the blood is platelets, e.g., a single donor apheresisleukoreduced or “PLT”, leukoreduced RBC or “RC”, CRYO—CAF singles or“CRY”, CRYO—PCAF (Pool) or “PCRY”, plasma—single unit or “FFP”, orplasma—double unit or “AFFP”, leukoreduced whole blood or “WB” and/orthe like.

The user is able to select a desired blood product via the computingdevice 20, which causes a drop-down menu of additional data to bedisplayed, as illustrated by FIG. 4. As illustrated in this scenario,the user selected a supply of PLT available at a national level, whichcauses additional data associated with the blood product PLT to bedisplayed, e.g., ABO type, procure price per unit, supply price perunit, units available to the user for procurement, cytomegalovirus orCMV negative, whether one or more of the blood units have beenirradiated, an age of the one or more units, antigen data, and/or thelike. Using this display of the system 10, the user is able to place anorder, which causes the system to attempt to fill the order via one ormore suppliers used in view of current demand and criteria set by theuser for the order. The user may edit various criteria, e.g., priceand/or days until expiration in attempt to facilitate filling of theorder by the system. It is foreseen that the user may simultaneouslyselect both procuring blood and supplying blood with either or both atany one or more of the aforementioned levels without deviating from thescope of the present inventive concept.

The system 10 maintains a profile for the user to track and store, viathe memory a variety of information including, but not limited to ahospital and/or blood bank associated with the user, price tolerancedata associated with the information of the user, and/or order/supplyhistory associated with the user via the memory 14. As illustrated byFIGS. 5-8, the system 10 is configured to deliver a variety of reportsto the user upon request of the user with predefined data. The data maybe historic data, real time data, and/or future data using a predictivealgorithm and one or more of the historic data and real time data basedon one or more trends tracked by the system 10. The historic data may beinclude a defined time period selectable by the user, e.g., a specificmonth, a specific quarter of a year, a specific year, or total historicdata for all time. The report is able to be generated based on one ormore specific blood products, e.g., PLT, RC, CRY, PCRY, FFP, AFFP,and/or WB, and include a total supplied of all of the blood productsand/or a total supplied for each of the blood products, each withassociated pricing information and associated averages. The report mayinclude total revenue of the user, total spend of the user, total volumeprocessed by the user, and associated shipping information. The reportmay include one or more graphs to quickly convey information to theuser, e.g., a supply mix and/or a procurement mix. The report mayinclude a total savings of the user based on a difference between auser's set or desired maximum or minimum price and an actual purchase orsell price, respectively, including any add-ons, e.g., irradiated and/orthe like. For instance, the report may indicate that the user as savedvia the written statement “$2,750 saved in July.”

Various displays are provided by the system 10 to the computing device20 of the user with detailed information regarding one or more bloodorders. As illustrated, the system 10 indicates the user has placedorders for 5 RC and 17 RC, i.e., an order for five red cell units and anorder for seventeen red cell units, the system 10 is awaiting trackingnumber information and no shipments are currently in transit, andinformation for orders already received by the user. The system 10allows the user to specify every aspect of the order based on real timeinformation when placing an order for blood. The system 10 allows theuser to specify components, ABO/RH, quantity, as well as additionalprocesses such as CMV negative, irradiated, and/or antigens. The system10 allows the user to specify a maximum monetary price per unit and/or amaximum age per unit, i.e., an age calculated from a time of donation ofthe blood via a blood donor at a blood bank or hospital. The system 10allows the user to associate urgency information with each order. Forinstance, the user may select one of a rush or “stat” order, e.g., shipentire order within one hour of acceptance of order, a stock order,e.g., ship entire order within twenty-four hours of acceptance of order,or a standing order, e.g., ship periodically at a set date, e.g., oneach first day of the month. For purposes herein, “acceptance of order”means upon generation of a notification to a supplier that an order hasbeen filled. Thus, it is necessary that the supplier take steps toensure it is able to process a stat order via sufficient personnel atany hour. It is foreseen that the system may include a selectable optionto allow the supplier to accept or not accept one or more order types,e.g., stat, stock, and/or standing, during one or more specific periodsof time(s) and/or day(s), e.g., on weekends, after and/or beforespecific hours without deviating from the scope of the present inventiveconcept. It is also foreseen that any order data may be provided via amenu, e.g., a drop-down menu, to the user for selection of the user viathe computing device 20 without deviating from the scope of the presentinventive concept. The system 10 also provides the user, for each bloodproduct, an expiration date or time period during which each of theblood products should be used, i.e., administered to a patient.

The system 10 may be configured to set a value for a blood product basedon expiration date. For instance, the system 10 may be configured toprice or value blood products with fewer days remaining until expirationas less valuable as blood products with relatively more days remaininguntil expiration. The system 10 may be configured to factor in otherfactors that could affect use of the blood products before expiration,e.g., shipping time in view of distance between supplier and recipient.Thus, identical blood products from different suppliers may havedifferent values if one supplier is closer to the recipient than theother supplier, i.e., the blood product from the supplier that is closerto the recipient may have a higher value than the blood product from thesupplier that is further away from the recipient. It is foreseen that,if the user desires to order blood for immediate use, the user may beable to save money by ordered the blood with fewer days remaining untilexpiration. The system 10 may suggest one or more alternatives to theuser to allow the user to save on blood products. In this manner, thesystem 10 is advantageously configured to avoid waste.

In use, the user inputs information associated with an order for bloodinto the system 10 via the computing device 20 and places the order.Upon placement of the order, the system 10 executes a simultaneoussearch of a variety of different blood supplier information andassociated blood supply for each supplier to identify a match, i.e., anexact match or a best match, to the order for blood based on theinformation input by the user. When the match is identified, the matchis displayed by the system 10 to the user via the computing device 20and the order is transmitted to the supplier of the match via thecomputing device 20 of the supplier of the match, as illustrated by FIG.9. The system 10 indicates that the order has been filled by displayinginformation associated with the filled order, e.g., supplierinformation, maximum purchase price, actual price paid per unit, andsavings, if any, based on maximum purchase price and actual price paid.

The system 10 allows the user, e.g., the buyer and/or the supplier, toselect a shipping method as desired based on price, speed, or like otherconsiderations, and provides automatic updates to the user to indicatestatus of the shipment, e.g., shipped, in transit, delivered, and/orreceived. The system 10 automatically generates reporting informationfor the user to help the user document the transaction. Similar to thereport to a supplier generated by the system 10 and illustrated by FIG.5, FIGS. 10-14 illustrate various reports to a buyer generated by thesystem 10, which provides similar information. It is foreseen that theuser can be both the supplier and the buyer, and the user need only makea selection, e.g., a tab selection via the computing device 20, toreceive and view either or both reports. The system 10 provides aplurality of selectable levels of information related to variouscomponents of blood, as illustrated by FIGS. 10-14, which are selectedby the user via the computing device of the user. As illustrated, theuser is allowed to select one or more of (i) a product subtotal; (ii) aproduct; and (iii) a subset of the product. The user can select any oneor more of the products and/or subsets, but for illustration purposes,the user selects PLT and B−. The mix information generated by the system10, i.e., color-coded pie charts associated with the procurement mix andthe supply mix, advantageously allows the user to fully understand pastmarket trends and better anticipate future market trends with respect toblood.

Turning to FIG. 15, an exemplary use scenario of the system 10 usinglogic, e.g., contained in the memory 14 and via the processor 12, isillustrated. At Step 100, the user submits an order request #0 via thecomputing device 20 to the system 10 containing a plurality of subsets(four products), i.e., 10A @ $100 per unit, 10B @ $100 per unit, 10C @$100 per unit, and 10D @ $100 per unit. Based on the order and thesupply information of the system 10, the system 10 makes a number ofdeductions using the processor 12, when the order is received, at Step100. In this scenario, the system 10 has received supply informationfrom Suppliers 0-3, which respectively have supplies of: 10C @ $100 perunit and 10D @ $99 per unit; 10A @ 110 per unit and 10B @110 per unit;10A @ 110 per unit and 10B @110 per unit; and 7D @ $100 per unit. AtStep 110, the system 10 groups each of the suppliers into one of aplurality of classes, each a product fulfillment count PFC or “bucket,”based on best match, and attempts to match one or more subsets of theorder with all of the suppliers contained in the memory 14. Asillustrated, the system 10 is configured to group buckets based onability to fill the order, with bucket 2 ranked highest and bucket 0ranked lowest because there is no perfect match for the supplier withinbucket 0, as further discussed hereafter.

At Step 120, the system 10 deduces that Supplier 1 and Supplier 2, bothin bucket 2, can both fill one or more subsets, i.e., 10A @ 110 per unitand 10B @110 per unit. To select from these identical supplies, thesystem 10 randomly selects Supplier 2, at Step 130. This selectioncauses Supplier 2 to receive a notification from the System 10 to fill10A and 10B of the order, e.g., as illustrated by FIG. 8, and a portionor two subsets of the order satisfied by Supplier 2 are removed from theorder by the system 10, at step 140.

At step 150, Supplier 1 is randomly selected from the bucket 2 to fillone of the remaining subsets, i.e., 10C, but it is determined by thesystem 10 that Supplier 1 can only fill 0 C. Thus, the system 10 marksthe bucket 2 as empty, a next bucket, i.e., bucket 1 is selected, andSupplier 0 is selected to fill 100 and a notification is sent aspreviously described, and Supplier 0 is determined that Supplier 0 canonly fill 10D @ $99 per unit, which fails the order price constraint, atStep 160. Thus, the system 10 does not utilize Supplier 0 to fill theorder for 10D @ $100 and another portion or one subset of the ordersatisfied by Supplier 0 is removed from the order by the system 10.

At step 170, bucket 0 is selected, e.g., using a randomizer of thesystem 10, and the system 10 determines that Supplier 3 cannot fill anentirety of any remaining subsets of the order. At step 180, allremaining suppliers are analyzed to determine whether one or more of theremaining suppliers can satisfy an entirety of one or more of theremaining subsets of the order at the price per unit requested by theuser. If so, the system 10 processes such as previously described. Ifnot, the system 10 attempts to fill portions of the remaining subsets ofthe order via all of the suppliers, at step 190. For this scenario, thesystem 10 determines that no suppliers can fill the entirety of one ormore of the remaining subsets of the order at the price per unitrequested by the user. Thus, at step 200, it is determined that Supplier3 can supply 7D @ $100 and Supplier 3.

At steps 210A and 210B, the order is split into two orders, i.e., apartial order and a new order, to allow the user to proceed with bothorders. Supplier quantities are updated in view of the orders, at step220, and the user is presented with a request for input via thecomputing device 20 with respect to the new order, at step 230. Asillustrated, the user selects the new order, which causes a second orderto be placed at step 235. In this manner, the system 10 allows the userto select: (i) the partial order only; (ii) the partial order and thenew order; and/or (iii) not to proceed with any of the orders. At step240, both orders are processed by the system 10 as previously discussed.

Turning to FIG. 16, the system 10 is configured to track various metricsof the blood products across the system 10, collect data from one ormore users of the system 10, and report analytical information to theone or more users. For instance, the system 10 is configured to usecollected data to produce one or more sets of analytics tools that arepresented in context in the product. These tools may be used by the userto inform and suggest decisions on when to procure and sell one or moreblood products. Such collected data may be used to report a variety ofmetrics including, but not limited to, daily product pricing averages,supply by geography, demand by geography, price by region, supplychannels and/or product flow, average fulfillment time per organizationand/or average makeup of orders, average turnaround time, markethighs/lows, product highs/lows, total quantities procured/supplied,system supply to system average, e.g, derivatives of all time, a deltabetween original orders and fulfilled orders, percent of first requestsuccess, percent of stock, stat, and/or recurring orders, percent ofgrowth of the system 10, e.g., supply transacted, most/least demandedproducts, e.g., product, antigen, and/or process, most popular shippingcompany, ratings, most versatile suppliers, highest touch pointsuppliers/level of interaction with system, percent orders flagged totalby user, by place, and/or by supply/buy, user data, e.g., bounce rates,and/or time of each user on each page or “who is doing what”, and/oraverage quantities transacted per product.

The analytics provided by the system 10 enable an administrator or thesystem 10 to use data to produce buying/selling recommendations based onaggregated data that may be viewable only by the administrator. Suchdata may be displayed in context to non-administrator user, therebyallowing them to make more educated business decisions. It is foreseenthat the system 10 may be configured to utilize quantities, e.g.,procured, sold, and/or other use of the system by a user to triggeraccess to such data as an added benefit and incentive for the user toutilize the system 10. Likewise, it is foreseen that a limited number ofusers may have access to such data based on their subscription tier ofthe system 10.

It is foreseen that the system 10 may be configured to accommodate oneor more custom supplies for a supplier and/or purchaser via an “addcustom supply” feature. For instance, the system 10 may be configured toallow a supplier to sell or re-sell products that are rare, unique, orhave already had processes and antigens added. It is foreseen that thesystem 10 may be configured to generate invoices and be equipped withvarious features to facilitate invoicing, e.g., view, manage, process,analyze, and/or export an invoice based on supply and procure. It isforeseen that the system 10 may be configured to provide detailedassistance to new users during initial use via step by step onlineon-boarding of new buyers and sellers, integrated application and reviewprocess to onboard new buyers and sellers, and/or the like. It isforeseen that the system 10 may be configured to provide variousmanagement tools to an administrator or other user of the system 10including, but not limited to, manage, create, edit, delete, privilege,users of their system. For example, an administrator of a hospitalsystem can create and manage both a user and/or a place, and may providea secondary fast track application process using the system 10. Thesystem 10 may be configured to allow a user to build a hierarchystructure with differing levels of access, e.g., various layers for ahospital system, to manage multiple sites, see and pull data from eachindividually and collectively and compare both to national markettrends.

The system 10 is configured to trace and provide one or more historiesof the user based on one or more past entries of the user to the system10. The system 10 is configured to track and report order fill ratemetrics, e.g., what percentage of orders are filled via a first order,without requiring any secondary orders when the first order cannot becompletely filled. In view of these tracked and reported metrics, thesystem 10 can be configured to prompt an administrator when the system10 has a low supply with respect to one or more blood products in viewof a predetermined desired supply that is stored in the system 10. Insuch a scenario, the system 10 may trigger one or more communications,e.g., advertisements, to be sent to one or more suppliers, e.g., a bloodbank, to request one or more blood products that are indicated by thesystem 10 to be in low supply. The system 10 is configured to providerecommendations to the user based on tracked metrics. Suchrecommendations may include, but are not limited to, when is an idealtime and/or less ideal time to purchase one or more blood products inview of an oversupply and/or an under supply.

In this manner, the present inventive concept provides a computerizedsystem and method that provides a user with an online portal forreal-time matching of a blood order to a blood supplier based on avariety of variables tracked by the system including real-timemarketplace trend statistical analysis, and without any bias via a blindauction. The system 10 provides a blood product inventory managementsystem for buyers and sellers and is configured to analyze supply anddemand in real-time, providing users of the system 10 with data tointegrate smart buying and selling capabilities. The system 10 providesa system to manage all product inventories for buyers and sellers, withproduct inventories integrated into product availability and need. Thesystem 10 is configured to automatically order for users when supply islow. The system 10 is configured to automatically add units to sell whensupply is high. The system 10 is configured to adjust pricing andinventory on the exchange in order to eliminate outdating and maximizeefficiency of the ecosystem. The system 10 is configured toautomatically factor in historical data, e.g., local and/or national,weather data, current events data, and/or medical trend data to producerecommendations on blood draw (pre supply) and planning for procurement(pre-need/more than 45 days out for RBC's for example). The system 10 isconfigured to integrate predictive data maddening output into thedecision making process of the algorithm. For example, the system 10 mayidentify weather data, e.g., via a computer connected to a communicationsource, that indicates a large storm in the North Eastern United States,and cross-reference that data with supply that is currently located inthat area. The system 10 may be configured to anticipate that therecould be a large need for O− and AB+ due to lack of current inventory,and initiate buys or recommendations to buy to top off inventory at oneor more hospitals in that area before the storm hits the area.Simultaneously, the system 10 may send a communication to one or moreblood centers that there will be a post-storm lack of these sameproducts, and present the one or more blood centers with optimal timesto begin campaigns to solicit new donors to fill the predicted need.

In the foregoing description, the present inventive concept is describedwith reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will,however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be madethereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of thepresent inventive concept as set forth in the appended claims.

This description of the present inventive concept is provided to enableany person skilled in the art to make or use the present inventiveconcept. Various modifications will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be appliedalternatively without departing from the spirit or scope of the presentinventive concept. Thus, the present inventive concept is not intendedto be limited to the description herein but is to be accorded the widestscope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

The steps of a method, system, or operation described in connection withthe present inventive concept disclosed herein may be embodied directlyin hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in acombination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage mediumknown in the art.

Having now described the features, discoveries, and principles of thepresent disclosure, the manner in which embodiment of the presentdisclosure are constructed and used, the characteristics of theconstruction, and advantageous, new and useful results obtained; the newand useful structures, devices, elements, arrangements, parts andcombinations, are set forth in the appended claims.

The following claims are intended to cover all of the generic andspecific features of the present disclosure herein described, and allstatements of the scope of the present inventive concept, which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall there between.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computerized marketplace system for bloodproducts, the system comprising: a supplier portal configured to receivesupply data related to supply blood products from a plurality ofsuppliers, each of the plurality of suppliers having one or more supplyblood products units, the supply data including one or more supplyvariables related to the supply blood products units; memory storing thesupply data related to the supply blood products; an order portalconfigured to receive a blood products order, the blood products orderbeing associated with an order facility and specifying demand bloodproducts units, one or more demand variables being automaticallyidentified for the blood products order following receipt of the bloodproducts order via the order portal; and at least one processorconfigured to automatically group each of the plurality of suppliersinto one of a plurality of classes based on a comparison of the one ormore demand variables to the one or more supply variables for each ofthe plurality of suppliers, the plurality of classes each correspondingto a product fulfillment count, a first class being automaticallyidentified from the plurality of classes, the first class having ahighest ranking product fulfillment count and including a subset of theplurality of suppliers, a random match being generated between the bloodproducts order and a particular supplier from the subset of theplurality of suppliers grouped in the first class, a notification beingautomatically sent to the particular supplier following the randommatch, the particular supplier filling the blood products order byshipping the demand blood products units to the order facility based onthe random match.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein thecomparison is further based on additional variables automaticallyidentified based on at least one of: the one or more supply variables ormarket data.
 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the market dataincludes one or more market trends.
 4. The system according to claim 1,wherein the one or more demand variables include one or more of: a pricetolerance of the order facility; a geographic location of the orderfacility; other orders requested by the order facility; and a deadlineof the order facility.
 5. A computerized method to buy blood products,the method comprising the steps of: receiving a blood products order,the blood products order being associated with an order facility andspecifying demand blood products units; automatically identifying demandvariables for the demand blood products units in response to receivingthe blood products order; automatically grouping a plurality ofsuppliers into one of a plurality of classes, the plurality of supplierseach having one or more supply blood products units, the one or moresupply blood products units having supply variables, the plurality ofsuppliers automatically grouped into one of the plurality of classesbased on a comparison of the demand variables to the supply variablesfor each of the plurality of suppliers, the plurality of classes eachcorresponding to a product fulfillment count; automatically identifyinga first class of the plurality of classes, the first class having ahighest ranking product fulfillment count and including a subset of theplurality of suppliers; automatically generating a match of the bloodproducts order to a particular supplier by randomly selecting theparticular supplier from the subset of the plurality of suppliers in thefirst class; automatically notifying the particular supplier about beingmatched to the blood products order, the particular supplier filling theblood products order by shipping the demand blood products units to theorder facility.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the blood productsorder further specifies second demand blood products units, the methodfurther comprising: automatically determining that the particularsupplier cannot supply the second demand blood products units.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising: automatically removing theparticular supplier from the first class for the second demand bloodproducts units; automatically iterating to a second class of theplurality of classes according to the product fulfillment count; andautomatically generating a random match between the blood products orderfor the second demand blood products units and a second particularsupplier randomly selected from a second subset of the plurality ofsuppliers in the second class; and automatically notifying the secondparticular supplier about being matched to the blood products order, thesecond particular supplier fulfilling the blood products order with ashipment of the second demand blood products units to the orderfacility.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: automaticallyremoving the particular supplier from the first class for the seconddemand blood products units; automatically generating a random matchbetween the blood products order for the second demand blood productsunits and a second particular supplier randomly selected from the firstsubset of the plurality of suppliers in the first class; andautomatically notifying the second particular supplier about beingmatched to the blood products order, the second particular supplierfulfilling the blood products order with a shipment of the second demandblood products units to the order facility.
 9. The method of claim 5,further comprising: generating one or more metrics based on one or moreof: the demand variables, the supply variables, the blood productsorder, the match, and shipment of the demand blood products units. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more metrics includes one ormore of: daily product pricing averages, supply by geography, demand bygeography, price by region, supply channels, product flow, averagefulfillment time per facility, average order makeup, average turnaroundtime, market high, market low, product high, product low, total quantityprocured, total quantity supplied, a system supply to a system average,percent of first request success, percent of system growth, mostdemanded products, least demanded products, ratings, and averagequantity per product.